Life doesn’t always turn out as you expected it too.The world keeps moving on and changing inexorably, and we need to move and change with it. Pause and think about the big shifts in history when one of the parties said in essence —this will not stand. I just read a brief history of the time when Spain threw out Islam, and the triumph of Christianity.

Hat salesman to President of the United States. Some of our better presidents weren’t from the political class. Might keep that in mind as well.

The beautiful and quiet forests and mountains of the Pacific Northwest won’t protect us anymore. We’re getting national publicity, all of it bad. In this case, it is the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal ‘s “Left Coast Lawlessness: Progressivism is wrecking cities in the Pacific Northwest.” Unfortunately, it’s true. (Do read the whole thing)

The anarchy and disorder dominating progressive cities across the West Coast recently hit a new low in Seattle. King County officials are looking to roll out a “safe injection van,” a legal venue at which addicts could shoot up illegal drugs unhindered and “safely.” The first of its kind in the United States, the van would manage to undermine further the rule of law while also doing little to help addicts. Seattle’s urban decay goes deeper, though, with skyrocketing rates of homelessness, an explosion in opioid usage and deaths, and spikes in violent crime.

Portland doesn’t fare any better, and only today the news reported that police were trying to put down a riot when protesters resisted being removed from camping out around ICE headquarters there for days.

Both cities have big problems with “homelessness,” though the problem is perhaps that the problem in most cases is not the lack of a home. We have an huge increase in opioid use, and deaths, and the spikes in violent crime that go along with the other problems. City planners are industriously trying to build low-income housing in the useless assumption that will solve the problem. Concurrently they are establishing “safe injection sites” and apparently that is not working as promised, so they are rolling out the “safe injection vans.” Supposedly there is a nurse or other medical professional to make sure that they don’t overdose. And if they are nice enough to the addicts, maybe they will accept treatment.

Headline on Fox News: “Seattle cops flee the force in ‘mass exodus’ due to frustrations with the city’s politics, reportsays.” At least 41 cops have left the Seattle Police Department this year, many of them reportedly citing frustration with the city’s politics and a perceived lack of support from local officials. Some were retirements, but at least 20 have left to find employment at other law enforcement agencies. The frustration over city politics is higher than usual. Kshama Sawant, a very radical city council member, was particularly cited as being especially critical of law enforcement. “A city council member [Sawant] can call two police officers ‘murderers’ and the city pays for her legal fees,” a source said. The Seattle Police Guild said officers have not received a pay raise in three years due to contract negotiations. but said that officers didn’t leave because of money issues —they were just fed up with the politics.

The Seattle Police Department said it would not characterize the departures as a “mass exodus” and noted primly that the department was continuing to recruit officers, including women and minorities.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office released a statement about the importance of public safety and keeping families safe, etc. etc. etc.

The mountains and forests remain beautiful, wildflowers and waterfalls. It’s just the cities that are haywire.

ADDENDUM: How come they never, never understand that making things nice for addicts will just attract more addicts?When you create a sanctuary city, it does not just protect your current illegals, but invites more to come. When parents complained about the behavior of their kids, the remedy turned out to be what they called “tough love.”